Hi All,
Some time back I read a reply to someone in this group from (I think) Matt
Domsch (excuse me if I have that wrong) stating that Dell supports Linux on
all of their servers.
The first thing that I want to do is remind everyone here that I am a newbie
to Linux. The distribution that I have used the most is RedHat (both 7.2
and 7.3) - primarily because Dell sells it on their servers and on some
workstations. I figured, I'll need to know RedHat if I'm going to buy Dells
with Linux, so I started down that path first.
The reason I bring that up is because I laid my hands on SuSE Linux 8.0
Professional at Best Buy earlier in the week and have been trying it out as
a Desktop replacement for Windows at home. I must say in the week that I
have used SuSE that I am impressed by it. Probably 10 times more than I am
with RedHat - especially with YaST2 and the ability to add software in the
form of RPMs to a base install. All of this may be a "newbie" mistake, but
I feel that I can gain better results from using SuSE than I can from
RedHat.
So the big question here is: Why does Dell bundle RedHat? I can understand
the economics behind the scenes (if that's what it is) and am OK with that.
But if Dell supports "Linux" and not "just RedHat Linux", then why is RedHat
the only option for bundling with their hardware? Is there some fundamental
reason that the Dell Engineers decided to use RedHat above any other
distribution?
The other (probably more important) question is: Is there anything that
anyone in this group whose experience tells them that SuSE is a bad way to
go compared to RedHat? Should I use RedHat because it is fundamentally
better than SuSE? Should I go down the RedHat path and be done with it? If
so, WHY?
I don't want to start a flame war, I'm just curious about why RedHat is so
dominant and whether SuSE would be a bad choice for me from a corporate
server standpoint. I have so little experience, that I feel I need guidance
from those who have traveled the road several miles more than I have.
Thanks,
Kevin L. Collins, MCSE
Systems Manager
Nesbitt Engineering, Inc.
(859) 233-3111 ext 24